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US 10,705,541 B2Granted
Unmanned aircraft navigation system and method
AssigneePlanck Aerosystems Inc.
InventorsDavid Merrick Twining, Joshua Wells
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems, apparatuses and methods for landing an unmanned aircraft on a mobile structure are presented. Sensors on the aircraft identify a predetermined landing area on a mobile structure. The aircraft monitors the sensor data to maintain its position hovering over the landing area. The aircraft estimates a future attitude of the surface of the landing area and determines a landing time that corresponds to a desired attitude of the surface of the landing area. The unmanned aircraft executes a landing maneuver to bring the aircraft into contact with the surface of the landing area at the determined landing time.
Claims28
An unmanned aircraft system comprising:
- a non-transitory computer-readable medium configured to store information and executable programmed modules comprising a landing module;
- an unmanned aircraft comprising a lift system comprising one or more lift mechanisms configured to propel the unmanned aircraft;
- a mobile landing structure having a mobile landing area, wherein the mobile landing area comprises a visual target indicative of a center of a surface of the mobile landing area, wherein the visual target is a coded visual target comprising a known size and known features that uniquely identify the mobile landing area and the mobile landing structure;
- a sensor system configured to sense a sensed information related to an environment of the unmanned aircraft and send the sensed information to the non-transitory computer-readable medium;
- and
- a processor configured to control the lift system and the sensor system, the processor communicatively coupled with the non-transitory computer-readable medium and configured to execute programmed modules stored therein;
- wherein the landing module is configured to:
- receive the sensed information, wherein the sensed information comprises image data of the visual target;
- identify the mobile landing area on the mobile landing structure based on the sensed information, wherein the identifying comprises performing visual recognition of the image data of the visual target, wherein performing the visual recognition comprises performing image processing algorithms on the image data to determine a position of the unmanned aircraft relative to the mobile landing area;
- substantially continuously estimate a future position, a future movement, and a future attitude of the mobile landing area on the mobile landing structure, wherein the estimating comprises performing visual recognition of the image data of the visual target, wherein performing the visual recognition comprises performing image processing algorithms on the image data;
- identify a landing time corresponding to a desired future attitude of the mobile landing area;
- and
- maintain the unmanned aircraft in a substantially constant position relative to the center of the surface of the mobile landing area based on the estimated future position, the estimated future movement, and the estimated future attitude of the mobile landing area on the mobile landing structure;
- and
- wherein the processor is further configured to alter an amount of power delivered to the one or more lift mechanisms at a predetermined time to bring the unmanned aircraft into contact with the surface of the mobile landing area.
12 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon one or more executable instructions for navigating an unmanned aircraft having a lift system to a mobile landing structure, the executable instructions comprising instructions for:
- identifying a mobile landing area on the mobile landing structure based on a sensed information related to an environment of the unmanned aircraft, wherein the sensed information comprises image data of a visual target indicative of a center of a surface of the mobile landing area, wherein the visual target is a coded visual target comprising a known size and known features that uniquely identify the mobile landing area and the mobile landing structure, wherein the identifying comprises performing visual recognition of the image data of the visual target, wherein performing the visual recognition comprises performing image processing algorithms on the image data to determine a position of the unmanned aircraft relative to the mobile landing area;
- substantially continuously estimating a future position, a future movement, and a future attitude of the mobile landing area on the mobile landing structure, wherein the estimating comprises performing visual recognition of the image data of the visual target, wherein performing the visual recognition comprises performing image processing algorithms on the image data;
- determining a quiescent period of the mobile landing area corresponding to a desired future attitude of the mobile landing area, the quiescent period comprising a future start time and a future end time;
- determining an initiate landing time prior to the future start time;
- maintaining the unmanned aircraft in a substantially constant position relative to the center of the surface of the mobile landing area based on the estimated future position, the estimated future movement, and the estimated future attitude of the mobile landing area on the mobile landing structure;
- and
- controlling an amount of power delivered to the lift system at the initiate landing time to bring the unmanned aircraft into contact with the surface of the mobile landing area.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.